literally one officiating · noun, common masculine singular absolute
lips
שִׂפְתֵ֤יsif.Tei
H8193
the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine dual construct
keep
יִשְׁמְרוּyish.me.ru-
H8104
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
knowledge
דַ֔עַתDa.'at
H1847
knowledge · noun, common feminine singular absolute
seek
יְבַקְשׁ֣וּye.vak.Shu
H1245
to search out (by any method · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
law
וְתוֹרָ֖הve.to.Rah
H8451
a precept or statute · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
mouth
מִפִּ֑יהוּmi.Pi.hu
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
messenger
מַלְאַ֥ךְmal.'Akh
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh-
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָא֖וֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Timothy 2:24-25 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
Leviticus 10:11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
Deuteronomy 21:5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of th…
2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
John 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Acts 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Malachi 2:1-9
What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed to the priests (Mal 1:6): Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! that despise my name. But the crimes there charged upon them they were guilty of as sacrificers, and for those they might think it some excuse that they offered what the people brought, and therefore that, if they were not so good as they should be, it was not their fault, but the people's; and therefore here the corruptions there complained of are traced to the source and spring of them - the faults the priests were guilty of as teachers of the people, as expositors of the law and the lively oracles; and this is a part of their office which still remains in the hands…
In doing so (Mal 2:6) he did his duty as a priest, "for," &c.
knowledge--of the law, its doctrines, and positive and negative precepts (Lev 10:10-11; Deu 24:8; Jer 18:18; Hag 2:11).
the law--that is, its true sense.
messenger of . . . Lord--the interpreter of His will; compare as to the prophets, Hag 1:13. So ministers are called "ambassadors of Christ" (Co2 5:20); and the bishops of the seven churches in Revelation, "angels" or messengers (Rev 2:1, Rev 2:8, Rev 2:12, Rev 2:18; Rev 3:1, Rev 3:7, Rev 3:14; compare Gal 4:14).
John Gill on Malachi 2:7
For the priest's lips should keep knowledge,.... Or "shall keep knowledge", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; or "do keep knowledge", as the Arabic version; and so the Syriac version, "for the lips of the priest drop knowledge"; all this is true of Christ our great High Priest; for as it was predicted of him, that his lips should keep knowledge, so they have kept it, and do keep it; not concealing it, but preserving it, and communicating it freely and openly; as he did to his disciples and followers when here on earth, and by them to others; and still does by his Spirit, giving to men the knowledge of themselves and state; the knowledge of himself, and the way of salvation by him…
For neither may we address ourselves to almighty God, but only by Christ. In the same manner, therefore, let the laity make known all their desires to the bishop by the deacon, and accordingly let them act as he shall direct them. For there was no holy thing offered or done in the temple formerly without the priest. "For the priest's lips shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth," as the prophet somewhere says, "for he is the messenger of the Lord God almighty."
See the apostle's wisdom; to obviate the objection that he was prompted by vainglory to applaud his own doctrine, he includes himself also in his anathema. And as they betook themselves to authority, that of James and John, he mentions angels also, saying, "Tell me not of James and John; if one of the most exalted angels of heaven corrupt the gospel, let him be anathema." The phrase "of heaven" is purposely added, because priests are also called angels. "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger angel of the Lord of the hosts."
For in sacred language teachers are sometimes called prophets, in that, by pointing out how fleeting are present things, they make manifest the things that are to come. And such the divine discourse convinces of seeing false things, because, while fearing to reprove faults, they vainly flatter evil doers by promising security: neither do they at all discover the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding. For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often himself unaware. Hence Paul says, "That he may be able by sound doctrine even to convince the gainsayers." Hence through Malachi it is said, "The priest's lips keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth." Hence through Isaiah the Lord admonishes, saying, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet." For it is true that whosoever enters on the priesthood undertakes the office of a herald, so as to walk, himself crying aloud, before the coming of the judge who follows terribly.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Angel — A word signifying, both in the Hebrew and Greek, a “messenger,” and hence employed to denote any agent God sends forth to execute his purposes. It is used of an ordinary messenger (Job 1:14: 1 Sam.…
Angels — By the word “angels” (i.e. “messengers” of God) we ordinarily understand a race of spiritual beings of a nature exalted far above that of man, although infinitely removed from that of God—whose…
Priest — The Heb. kohen, Gr. hierus, Lat. sacerdos, always denote one who offers sacrifices. At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office devolved…
Courts Of Justice · Superior court: Consisted subsequently of priests and Levites — Superior court: Consisted subsequently of priests and Levites
Jews, The · Had an ecclesiastical establishment — Had an ecclesiastical establishment
Knowledge · The priest’s lips should keep — The priest’s lips should keep
Law Of Moses, The · Priests and Levites to teach — Priests and Levites to teach
Messenger · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Minister, Christian · MESSENGERS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS — MESSENGERS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS
Ministers · Their people are bound, to: Attend to their instructions — Their people are bound, to: Attend to their instructions
Priests · Services of: Teaching the law — Services of: Teaching the law
John Calvin on Malachi 2:7
Malachi 2:7
7. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
7. Certe labia sacerdotis custodient scientiam, et Legem requirent ex ore ejus, quia nuntius Iehovae exercituum est.
What the Prophet has said of the first priests he extends now to the whole Levitical tribe, and shows that it was a perpetual and unchangeable law as to the priesthood. He had said that Levi had been set over the Church, not to apply to himself the honor due to God, but to stand in his own place as the minister of God, and the teacher of the chosen people. The same thing he now confirms, declaring it as a general truth that the…
To explain and show the reason for this thought, the real nature of the covenant made with Levi is described in Mal 2:5-7; and Mal 2:8 and Mal 2:9 then show how the priests have neutralized this covenant by forsaking the way of their fathers, so that God is obliged to act differently towards them now, and deliver them up to shame and ignominy. Mal 2:5. "My covenant was with him life and salvation, and I lent them to him for fear, and he feared me and trembled before my name. Mal 2:6. Law of truth was in his mouth and there was no perversity on his lips, he walked with me in salvation and integrity, and brought back many from guilt. Mal 2:7. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and me…
The priests had been entrusted with the sacred knowledge of God as revealed in the law of Moses. Through their role as teachers, they were guardians of God’s covenant with Israel (Deut 33:9-10). • messenger (Hebrew mal’ak): This may be a wordplay on the name Malachi (mal’aki). Usually this title was reserved for Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament, but Malachi ascribes prophetic duties to the priest, since the priests were to interpret God’s word.
Titles And Names Of Ministers · Messengers of the Lord of hosts — Messengers of the Lord of hosts
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
